Thursday, 29 September 2011

This charity is one especially close to my heart. I have time and time again seen how cancer can devastate people I love and I have also seen how people can win their battle and conquer against the odds.

To help promote the charity I am running a fund raising event in my workplace where we are charging £2 to everyone taking part. As part of the day we will be dressing up in pink and running lots of pink activities for everyone to get involved in. I'm thinking along the lines of baking pink cakes, painting pink pictures, and playing with pink playdough to name just a few.

It is really easy to set up an event for your work place, school or nursery.

You can visit the 'Wear it Pink' website for more ideas and instructions on how to donate to the charity.

Saturday, 24 September 2011

I brought Tabitha-Lo her first hair clips two days after our five month scan.

She is nearly two years old and I have had no call for those clips and after two house moves they have long since vanished.

As we can 'just about' gather a tiny clump of hair and get in a clip that stays put (if no one touches it) for about thirty seconds we have announced 'Clip Fun' can begin...

I have been following The Baby Bow Boutique on Twitter for a while and have had to make do with recommending them to others and browsing the collections for the last eighteen months I reckon they took pity on us and sent us some goodies to try out.

The clips arrived in a gorgeously girlie pink drawstring bag which is very useful for storing them. Tabitha-Lo was literally jumping up and down with excitement when she saw them especially the ladybird and Hello Kitty ones.

Unfortunately she likes looking at them in her hand far more than she like them in her hair but this is slowly improving. The key to getting her to keep them in is to stealth style get them in, never comment on them and under no circumstances show the child her own reflection at any stage of the day.

As you can see above they look quite scrummy and I am hoping will along with the dresses and pink buggy trim help us out on the 'oh he's lovely' comments that make me want to hurt people.

Sunday, 18 September 2011

I don't read very often these days. It is one of the things like listening to music and dancing until 3am that has become part of a previous me.

I used to be able to consume an entire book in a day, finding myself walking around the house cleaning and reading too transfixed to put it down.

At certain times in my life I have read books that have left a lasting impression on me, ones that I can always recall reading and the feeling it gave to me when I turned the last page, gutted it was over. I usually fall for a book because it gives me something I needed at the time, perhaps if read at another stage of my life the impression would have been less poignant.

Anyway enough of the ranting. I am writing this today as I am immersed in one right now, a great book that is, and it is giving me stuff I needed to hear.

Read it if your 35. #fact

If you are wondering about the other books that have touched my life, I have taken a few from my all time favourites and featured them below...

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Every now and then I doubt if I should continue with blogging, or if I should continue carrying out reviews on the site.

Every now and then something comes along and you think, 'Balls to that!'

I got invited to review a day at The Sanctuary - Covent Garden and funnily enough didn't turn it down!

I was a bit nervous about the whole thing especially attending alone but determined not to miss the chance of a bit of mummy pampering I arrived at the spa at 11am on a Sunday morning. (I could have arrived anytime from 9.30am as part of the package.)

The staff were really helpful and took time to explain everything to me about the treatments I was having, where to find the restaurant and took me round to each area personally to book me in for my lunch and make sure I was clear with where to go for each of my treatments.

I had two treatments included in my day package, a sleep retreat therapy and an express pedicure, both these treatments are just 30 minutes long.

I started the day with my sleep retreat therapy. After changing into my swimsuit and dressing gown I was pointed in the direction of the Koi Carp Lounge and the Sleep Room waiting area to be called to the treatment with my fellow 'sleep retreaters' who slowly gathered around me in the waiting area.

I'd like to state now that I was not keen on the wooden walk ways over the Koi Carp pools I am always sure in situations like this I will slip and fall like a clumsy mare into the water this 'oh gifted Sanctuary designer' does not make for a relaxing time. By the time I was called to the darkened galley of a sleep room I was frankly as tense as a banjo string and laid rigid counting down the minutes on a plastic vibrating mattress while some stupid woman told me to think of the my most annoying thought and then put it in a box. I hate that stuff.

To help me get over the sleep retreat debacle I ventured first to the pool and then to the jaccuzzi/steam room areas. No one spoke to me, there was no imminent death or humiliation issues just hot bubbly water and relaxation. Heaven.

After wondering around slightly aimlessly for a while I found the relaxation VIP lounge, its not really called this I should add but where the Koi Carp lounge is more suited to hen groups and gossiping PR girls this lounge is more aimed at the pouty upper class woman wanting to sit in the dark alone, drink coffee/champagne under dim lights and squint at posh magazines. I fitted right in *cough*.

I actually managed to sit/lay for nearly an hour under a furry blanket sipping coffee and reading magazines it was heavenly and I wished I just come straight in here when I arrived rather than the poxy sleep retreat. I wonder if they'd have let me trade it in for a glass of champers if I'd asked nicely?

I had to leave the VIP lounge for my pedicure appointment which was pre booked so that they would dry over lunch, a great bit of planning by myself I thought. I have to admit they looked fabulous and still do two weeks later. The staff were a good blend of polite yet chatty and not the stuck up beauty therapy wenches I've been exposed to during some treatments.

Lunch was the next highlight of my day and I mean highlight. The food was amazing. I felt a bit of a loner sat on my own but the fact that I was eating a perfectly cooked steak helped ease the pain! If you visit the Spa don't skip the restaurant it is excellent.

I could have stayed until 6.30pm as part of my day but me being me I was twitchy by 4pm and had to head home, I 'm sure some other female company would have changed that but on my own I felt a bit out of place.

My negatives of the day were the walk ways over the pond, its only time until 'Miranda' films a sketch there, the sleep treatment it was a total waste of everyones time, and basically being alone *gets out worlds smallest violin*

Overall however I would highly recommend The Sanctuary to anyone after a spa day, just make sure you take a friend and skip the sleep retreat, get all the other treatments and use the jacuzzis and pool until you are shriveled like a prune, eat in the restaurant and then sleep it off in the VIP lounge. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.